Things to Know About Identity Theft

Yesterday I experienced something that I’ve been seeing a lot of in one of the values commercials on T.V. The commercial starts with a middle age lady and a young teenage boy setting on a bus bench together. The bus comes and the middle aged lady gets up and proceeds to board. However she accidently leaves her purse behind. Immediately the young teenager spots the purse, picks it up and looks inside. Unfortunately the woman is now on the bus and the bus is gone. The young teenage boy then began running as fast as he can along the back allies. The viewer doesn’t realize it right away but the teenager is making a big effort to meet the lady as she is getting off the bus. (How does he know where the woman will be getting off the bus is not made clear in the commercial)

But guess what? The teenager meets the woman just in time as she is getting off the bus (he is all out of breath and is practically panting for air by this time) and he gives the woman her purse back. He says something like “ma’m, you forgot your purse.” The woman says : “ You don’t know how worried I was. Thank you. Thank you very much”. Then you will hear a voice that says: “Honesty. Pass it on. A foundation for a better life”. The commercial is a memorable one because as the boy is running through the allies with the purse, there is a catchy , jazzy like song playing, and a police car happens to be following him. If you never saw the commercial before, you would probably think that the boy plans on keeping what valuables that are inside the purse for himself. But as it turns out the kid is honest and only wants to return the lady’s purse she left behind.

Well today, it was my turn to experience this very noble lesson in honesty. It happened while I was at a service station. Instead of paying at the pump as I usually would have done, I walked inside to grab a diet coke. At first I was going to use my debit card but decided against it and used cash instead. I inadvertently laid my driver’s license and debit card down on the counter while I was fumbling through my purse for the cash. I gave the cashier a twenty dollar bill for the gas and a dollar bill and change for my diet coke. I then walked out and pumped the gas I’d just purchased. Just as I was about to pull away from the station, the cashier who waited on me inside was knocking on my window. I was obviously very surprised to see her standing there. She immediately held up my driver’s license and debit card she was holding in her hand and gestured for me to take it. I was actually astonished. I had no immediate memory of me laying down those two very important documents on the counter.

But later I vaguely remembered doing just that. I was not only holding my debit card and my driver’s license, but I had multiple documents (professional license and social security card) and business cards as well. They were all kept in a small pouch that I carry in my purse in lieu of a wallet. I keep any cash I may have there also. So when I went digging through the pouch for cash, (I am so unorganized…if I had a wallet instead of a pouch to keep my things in, this probably would have never happened) I had several items in my hand all at once, including the money I was looking for. Thinking about that incident now, I realize that leaving my possessions on the counter was an accident just waiting to happen. I thanked the lady for returning my documents and I also told her that I truly appreciated the fact that it was her who found them instead of someone else. We both laughed lightly and said good bye.

I haven’t stopped thinking about what would have happened if she didn’t see those documents right away. Perhaps another employee or a customer could have spotted the cards before she did and picked them up. No one would have been the wiser. My personal information; my debit card number (that also acts like a visa card), and my driver’s license number along with my home address was right there and could have easily been in the hands of someone with dishonest intentions.

Well fortunately for me, I was very lucky. But what about those who are not so lucky? Identity theft has ramped up a lot these days. According to statistics given by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling: “8.1 million people were victims in the yeat 2010. The United Stated Trade Commission received 250,954 complaints about identity theft. The overall loss from identity fraud in 2010 was $37billion.”

With statistics like that it is easy to see that we should not take this subject lightly. I was in a hurry yesterday when I went for my gas, and because of it I could have very easily been the victim of identity theft.

The Federal Trade Commission has posted on its website measures to take in order to safe guard against identity theft. They are:

1) “Protect your social security card. Don’t carry your social security card in your wallet or write your social security number on a check. Give your social security number only when necessary, and ask to use other types of identification.”

2) “Treat your trash and mail carefully. To thwart an identity theft who may pick through your trash, or recycling bins to capture personal information, always shred your charge receipts copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physical statements, check and bank statements, expired charge cards that you’re discarding, and credit offers you get in the mail.”

3) “Be on guard when using t. he internet. The internet can give you access to information, financial offers, and countless other services, but at the same time, it can leave you vulnerable to on line scammers, identity thieves and more.”

4) “Select intricate passwords. Place passwords on your credit card, bank and phone accounts. Avoid using easily available information like your mother’s maiden name, your birth date, your last four digits of your social security number, a series of consecutive numbers, or a single word that may appear in a dictionary.”

5) “Verify a source before sharing information. Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or on the internet unless you’ve initiated the contact and are sure you know who you are dealing with. Identity thieves are clever, and may pose as representatives of banks, internet service providers,(ISPs) and even government agencies to get people to reveal their social security numbers, mother’s maiden name, account numbers, and other identifying information.”

6) “Safeguard your purse and wallet. Protect your purse and wallet at all times. Don’t carry your social security number or card; leave it in a secure place. Carry only the identification information and the credit and debit cards you’ll actually need when you go out.”

7) “Store information in a safe location. Keep your personal information in a secure place at home, especially if you have room-mates, employ outside help, or are having work done in your house. Share your personal information only with family members who have a legitimate need for it. Keep your purse or wallet in a safe place at work; do the same with copies of administrative forms that have your sensitive personal information.”

Identity theft is a very serious and cruel thing to happen to anyone. Hopefully you will take all of these safeguards previously mentioned into consideration, and use them to protect yourself. If you have anything happen to you like what happened to me yesterday, you may not be as lucky as I was if you fail to follow these precautions. I hope this article has been of some help to you.